In dog grooming, there are a number of people that want a little something extra, a bit more than just a hair cut, something that makes their pet stand out.
Color is often that little something. A bit of pink or blue to ears or paws can make a dog owner find a whole new level of enjoyment for interacting with their pet. Some owners like to have little designs like hearts or pawprints, or symbols for current holidays. Fans of certain sports teams may also appreciate getting their pet “dressed up” in their favorite team colors.
This has been one of the services that I have provided for the last many years, and I stocked up pretty well on some blow pens when there was a nice sale on them a while back.
Looking around I can find stuff a bit similar, but much more expensive, and I can find what I am looking for on places like Alibaba wholesale offers with fairly reasonable costs, so long as I buy a few thousand units at a time.
Anyone in creative avenues who would know where to find a supplier these guys? Any good alternatives? Something like this could probably work, but I am skeptical of “seen on TV” products.
Note to mods: This was a toss-up between here and Cafe Society. I leaned here because I am seeking opinions more than recipes, but if it is felt to belong over there, I have no objection to a move.
Note to posters: I get it that color on pets can be controversial. I am of the belief that, so long as it is not harmful or toxic, anything that increases the enjoyment that someone gets from their pet is good for the pet as well. Dogs love attention, and they want to be loved on. I am looking for advice on how to find these or similar items, not looking for a debate on whether or not they should be used. Thank you.
I miss those. Some serious marker companies like Prismacolor used to make them. Perfect for just a quick touch of color without all the fuss of a real airbrush.
But I searched for “Blow pen” on Amazon… found a couple, looks like Crayola makes one!
We had a similar problem last year. One of my co-workers has a dog that we dyed green to walk in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade with the shelter two years ago. It looked awesome, but the dog stayed a faded green for like three months. Last year, she made an appointment with a groomer to have it done. I don’t remember the whole plan, but it was to be something more subtle and temporary than a fully green dog. The groomer had some kind of equipment disaster and canceled the appointment and we tried calling every groomer and pet store in the city to find someone who could do airbrushing or dye. Couldn’t find a single one who even offered it and she ended up going with Kool-Aid, which looked… okay.
Anyway, the moral of the story is basically that I think it’s possibly become less popular. A few months before that, I feel like everyone was offering and advertising cute little temporary airbrush “tattoos” and I regularly saw dogs at the dog park sporting all kinds of crazy colors.
Also, I googled “dog airbrush blow pens” and several sites popped up: here is one that seems to be in service. Amazon says they have 8 currently in stock, but no reviews for it, so I can’t vouch for quality in any way… but I may actually get a set myself, both for St. Patrick’s Day and possibly for other “make a shelter pet stand out from the crowd” sort of uses.
The parade dog, by the way, does not care one bit that she’s occasionally green for a while and very much enjoys the extra attention that comes with it. As did the dog who came to us with an odd hair growth pattern which gave her a little mohawk. We dyed it green with the leftover dye. She didn’t mind that at all, but it got her extra attention and a resulting quick adoption, which she likes very much. I don’t know if I would have said this before I became a Used Pet Salesman, but I am pro colorful dogs.
I wouldn’t buy anything from Alibaba that may potentially cause harm (unknown quality standards), much less resell them. Too much potential for liability.
I’ll second this, especially for a professional service. A basic airbrush can be had for pretty cheap and will probably look more impressive to clients, and you will be able to vouch for the paints / pigments being pet safe.
If you do any watching of late-night TV, you may have noticed infomercials for airbrush-based cosmetics (for people). Perhaps this is a technology that could be repurposed for the pet grooming industry.
Have an air brush kit that an ex-roommate of mine left behind had who was into that sort of thing. We played with it a bit, but ultimately, the groomers didn’t much like the way it worked or what it produced. May dig it out and give it another try though, been a few years.
Not sure how I missed that. Think I was skipping anything that wasn’t a manual blow pen. THat may actually work out pretty well, and using a fairly standard marker that is unlikely to be discontinued is not.
Cheap enough that I think i’ll go ahead and give it a try.
Thanks for the find.
If you do that, make sure you use low cal Kool-Aid, or the amount of sugar will completely dilute the color. We played with Kool-Aid a bit at the beginning, but as you said, it looks… okay.
There were a few creative groomers that made the rounds a while back, probably raised awareness of it a bit. Of course, they are kinda silly, putting cartoon faces on dogs, that’s where I draw the line.
ehhhh, Opawz… Generally overpriced. Used to be able to buy single colors, and now they only sell variety packs, with only 3 or at most 4 useful colors.
Before I got into grooming, I probably felt the same way, if I even thought about it. But, having seen client’s reactions to bringing out a colored dog, whether it be a full body dye, some sort of mixed tie-die, or just some highlights to ears, I can see that the dog is going to get more love and attention due to it.
We have a couple of dogs that are therapy dogs, and they take them over to the Children’s Hospital, and apparently the children will be cheering for the “Pink Poodle” when she arrives.
I think that that is what Opawz is doing.
Yeah, nothing against China in general, but it is the other side of the world and don’t owe you anything. I’d make very sure that the ingredients that they claim to use are the ones that they are actually using before using it or reselling it.
Hmmm, never tried food dye. Tried just about everything else, and it never worked out very well. Get some splotchy colors if that, for a bit, before it dies.
Might give the food dye a try, interesting idea. Thank You.
Got this in the other day, today was the first chance to play with it.
I was a bit skeptical at first, seemed to have pretty low pressure, and one of my groomers was talking about a similar object, but hand pumped, that they hated.
But it worked really well, and my groomers seem to be happy with it.